7:17 Nevertheless, 10 as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each person, so must he live. I give this sort of direction in all the churches.
1 tn Grk “the scribe.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the Mosaic law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.
2 tn Grk “entered the heart,” an OT expression, in which the heart functions like the mind.
3 sn A quotation from Isa 64:4.
4 tn Grk “time, until the Lord comes, who will bring to light.”
5 tn Or “praise.”
6 tn Grk “and some [of you] were these.”
7 tc The external evidence in support of the reading ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (Ihsou Cristou, “Jesus Christ”) is quite impressive: Ì11vid,46 א B Cvid D* P 33 81 104 365 629 630 1739 1881 2464 al lat bo as well as several fathers, while the reading with merely ᾿Ιησοῦ has significantly poorer support (A D2 Ψ Ï sa). Although the wording of the original could certainly have been expanded, it is also possible that Χριστοῦ as a nomen sacrum could have accidentally dropped out. Although the latter is not as likely under normal circumstances, in light of the early and widespread witnesses for the fuller expression, the original wording seems to have been ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ.
8 tn Grk “both this [stomach] and these [foods].”
sn There is debate as to the extent of the Corinthian slogan which Paul quotes here. Some argue that the slogan is only the first sentence – “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food” – with the second statement forming Paul’s rejoinder, while others argue that the slogan contains both sentences (as in the translation above). The argument which favors the latter is the tight conceptual and grammatical parallelism which occurs if Paul’s response begins with “The body is not for sexual immorality” and then continues through the end of v. 14. For discussion and diagrams of this structure, see G. D. Fee, First Corinthians (NICNT), 253-57.
9 tn Grk “the ‘in you’ Holy Spirit.” The position of the prepositional phrase ἐν ὑμῖν (en Jumin, “in you”) between the article and the adjective effectively places the prepositional phrase in first attributive position. Such constructions are generally translated into English as relative clauses.
10 tn Or “only”; Grk “if not.”
11 tn Grk “through whom [are] all things and we [are] through him.”
12 sn A quotation from Deut 25:4.
13 tn Or “the husband is the head of his wife.” The same Greek words translated “man” and “woman” can mean, as determined by context, “husband” and “wife” respectively. Such an approach is followed by NAB, TEV, NRSV, and NLT (with some variations).
14 tn Grk “how can someone who fills the place of the unlearned say ‘Amen.’”
15 tn Grk “set aside, storing whatever he has been blessed with.”
16 tn Grk “set aside, storing.” The participle θησαυρίζων (qhsaurizwn) indicates the purpose or result of setting aside the extra income.
17 tn “To the extent that God has blessed you” translates an awkward expression, “whatever has been prospered [to you].” This verb has been translated as an active with “God” as subject, taking it as a divine passive.
18 tn Grk “so that collections will not be taking place.”